Santa’s sleigh hits bump at Brockton’s Westgate Mall

Saturday

Dec 24, 2011 at 12:01 AMDec 24, 2011 at 7:19 PM

When Finish Line, located inside Westgate Mall, opened around 6 a.m., the crowd that had started gathering since 7 the night before, got rowdy, pushing and shoving and banging on the glass wall of the store. Eighteen Brockton police cars – the entire midnight shift and some of the 8 a.m. shift – showed up to quiet the crowd. State police also assisted.

Erik Potter

Retail stores are bracing for a last-minute rush of shoppers today after crowds battling over trendy basketball shoes got rowdy at one store in Westgate Mall in Brockton on Friday.

Finish Line, a sporting goods store in the mall, sold out its stock of $180 Nike Air Jordan Retro 11 basketball shoes in just minutes on Friday. Some customers had camped out since 7 p.m. Thursday, waiting for the store to open.

When it did open at 5:45 a.m., the crowd got rowdy, pushing and shoving and banging on the glass wall of the store, an employee said. Eighteen Brockton police cars – the entire midnight shift and some of the 8 a.m. shift – showed up to quiet the crowd. State police also assisted.

When Olympia Sports opened at 8:45 a.m., store manager Mohamed Camara had five officers supervising the line, letting customers in one at a time. Its 22 adult pairs of the Air Jordan shoes sold in minutes.

The popular shoe’s release caused trouble nationwide as police arrested customers fighting to get a pair of the shoes.

The rest of Westgate Mall was quieter Friday morning, though traffic was tangled at the front entrance to the mall on Reynolds Memorial Highway.

Brian O’Malley, a Best Buy manager, said his store would be mobbed by evening. He was also bearing down for a busy Christmas Eve today, opening three hours early at 7 a.m. and bringing in nearly the entire staff to work.

Debbie Pomerleau, 50, of Brockton, came to the mall even though she had her Christmas shopping done with her granddaughter, Kendal Silvestro, 14, of Middleboro.

“I’m in the spirit of the holiday, just taking her out,” said Pomerleau, who bought Silvestro a sweater at American Eagle and lotion at Victoria’s Secret. The two planned to spend the rest of Friday making sugar cookies, Italian Christmas cookies and cannolis.

Erik Potter may be reached at epotter@enterprisenews.com.

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